Checkmate
by Zinsanity
Summary: Yes, it's a little late, but here's my tribute to the amazing red-headedness that is Fred Weasley. The love and boldness of said Fred is put to the test in this One Shot involving Carly, an OC borrowed from quizilla's own InsaneKittyKitty!


I definitely don't own Harry Potter, or any of his evil consorts, cuz if I did the characters I actually liked would have made it! But anyway, it's Fred with my friend's character, Carly. Enjoy, rate, flame, whatever you wanna do. If it makes your eyes bleed, see a doctor!

"You're a dork." "No, you're a dork." "You are." "No you are." That would be the Weasley twins, arguing once again.

"Um… you're both dorks, duh!" Carly spoke up, rolling her eyes.

"She's right you know," George said, smiling across the table at his look-a-like.

"Um, hello! Carly's _always_ right," Fred added, poking his brother's forehead, probably trying to wake his brain up.

"Yes I am, and you'd two do well to remember that," she said, looking up from the game of wizard's chess she was trying to concentrate on. There had been a bet made at the beginning of this game and both she and George risked losing money if she lost. Luckily Lee Jordan was a sad hand at chess, so the level of concentration usually needed was not all that much.

Except Fred was sitting behind Lee giving him instructions every few seconds. "Fred, that's cheating," Carly informed him while moving a rook to capture Lee's poor bishop. _He never had a chance._

"Is not. He's stealing _my_ money, isn't he?" the red head argued, sticking out his tongue playfully at her.

"Your fault for betting on the wrong person," George replied, laughing as he tried to drag his twin away from the game and to the other side of the Gryffindor common room to "discuss" things.

After a few more minutes of silence, except from the pieces that were battling each other viciously, Carly said, "Check."

Lee looked up at Fred, frowning. Then a smile formed across his mouth, his eyes twinkling. He quickly made a stupid move, but when Carly moved to meet victory, two soft lips met hers instead. Smirking as she moved her own bishop to take Lee's king, Carly removed her lips from Fred's and said teasingly, "Checkmate."

"I thought you had it taken care of!" Lee shouted, glaring at the back of his red-headed friend.

"I did! Carly's just smarter than we are," Fred replied, climbing off of her lap and returning to his own seat.

"Yeah, but we all knew that," Carly spoke up, sticking out her tongue at both Lee and Fred.

George suddenly swept her into his arms, spinning the both of them around in circles while laughing hysterically. "We won, we won, we won!" he shouted, drawing much unneeded attention towards them. Carly giggled before joining in the cheer.

"Yeah, yeah," Lee grumbled, pulling a small pouch from his pocket and tossing it in George's direction. The boy immediately caught it, but in the process he released Carly, sending her down to the floor.

Fred helped her up, brushing off imaginary dirt while she just stood there, blushing harder each time his hands brushed her breasts or butt. Yes, she did know he didn't mean anything by it, but having had her eye on that particular red-head, she always wished he would notice her as more than a friend and want to touch her in that particular way. When Fred let her go, Carly was finally able to speak. "So where's my money, Freddy-kins?"

He simply took a step over and asked, "What money?"

"Don't tell me you made that bet and you're _broke_!" Carly shouted, glaring at him. "I won fair and square and you tell me you can't pay up? You're such a… a… Oh forget it." And with that, she started to stomp to the girl's dormitories, turning to throw another glare at him. Unfortunately she couldn't hold the act any longer and let out a laugh at seeing their shell-shocked faces.

The twins exchanged looks that comunicated everything they couldn't say at the moment before chasing after their friend, who took off in the direction of the girl's dormitories once again. There were many shouts and cries of protest when the red-heads caught up with Carly and tackled her to the floor, tickling her for all they were worth. Even though she was practically dying from laughing so much, Carly refused to give up.

Finally George decided that Lee should be a part of this little tumble and jumped from the miniature battle, racing to his friend and tackling him as well, tickling him like crazy. Only a few moments later, Fred decided to see exactly what his brother had gone off and done, only to find Lee and George rolling around, laughing like maniacs and trying to beat the other at tickling. Sitting up, Fred pulled Carly into his arms, keeping her seated in his lap so she had no chance of retaliating. "They look a bit queer, don't they?" he whispered into her ear, turning her even darker red than she had been just a moment before. This contact was getting a little too much for her to handle.

"Not at all. Just because the two of them are hopelessly and madly in love with each other doesn't mean they seem queer. It simply makes them… Yeah, they're queer." The two of them began laughing at the other's expense, the little tumble stopping upon hearing that Carly and Fred were getting along quite nicely.

"Well what do we have here?" George asked, faking a very loud gasp and slamming his hand over his mouth as if shocked.

"It seems there is another couple about to be formed," Lee answered, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at the pair of them.

Carly's face now matched the twin's hair, but she couldn't see Fred's reactions to the accusations. Calmly, he replied, "At least my girlfriend is just that… A _girl_friend." Smugly he stood up, dragging Carly by the waist to join him in standing on his two feet. "Now if you excuse us, this lovely lady and I have much to discuss." With an overexaggerated wink in their general direction, Fred began leading Carly out of the Gryffindor common room and down the hall.

"Fred Weasley, where do you think you're going?" she demanded, struggling to get from his arms before she gave something away in her dazed state.

"We, m'dear, are going to the lake." And before Carly could protest or come up with some silly excuse as to why she couldn't go along, he added, "There's no way you're getting out of this."

With her mind made up for her, Carly allowered herself to be led to the lake by the red head, only pretending to resist his push on her to walk forward a few times. Finally reaching the nearly black mass in the dark, she pushed herself from his body and flopped on the grass with a sigh. Looking around for a moment, Fred finally decided to have a seat as well. "So what was all that about, Fred?" Carly asked, happy that it was dark enough so that her redder than usual cheeks couldn't be seen by her friend.

"I thought the ladies should get a chance to have some alone time," he answered, laying back on the ground and pulling her down so that she was right beside him.

Carly frowned, turning to look at him through the darkness. "You liar. Tell me, Fred."

Fred rolled his eyes, gathering up all his thoughts before turning on his side to face Carly completely, preparing himself to get a good whack across the face like he deserved for what he was about to do. Noticing how serious her usually frivolous friend had gotten, Carly turned on her side and stared right back into his eyes, waiting.

There weren't any words exchanged; no clues about what he was going to do were given. Fred simply leaned forward, pressing his dry lips against Carly's passionately, trying to let her see how much her very presence tormented him with thoughts and feelings he could never act upon. If he really was leaving soon, he had to know that she wouldn't accept his affections.

Their bodies seemed to mold perfectly against one another, warm body against another warm body. Hot, needy lips ravaged each other and nimble fingers ran through course hair. Forcing himself away from Carly, Fred bit his lip to hold back the enormous smile threatening to tear his otherwise serious demeanor. "So I suppose you enjoyed that?"

"Not a bit," Carly whispered back, also trying to hold back every emotion threatening to spill from her mouth. Obviously this was one of his antics. There wasn't any real feeling behind that, none that she wanted. Fred was just looking for someone to practice his kissing with and she happened to be the closest to him.

"Well if you didn't, then I'm afraid you'll positively hate this," Fred teased before his lips dived down, finding the soft skin of her neck to please and tease. Biting her lip to keep back all noises that threatened to spill from her mouth, Carly tried to push his mouth from her skin. Finally understanding that the slight pressure wasn't a teasing gesture in return but, in fact, a refusal, Fred pulled away, frowning. "What's wrong?" he muttered, not daring to speak louder for fear that his voice would give away his true feelings.

"Practicing your kissing technique on me is one thing, Fred, but something like that… It opens up other possibilities that I don't want if this is just to pass the time." Carly's voice came out much stronger than she had thought it would, remaining steady throughout her entire explanation.

"What do you mean, practice?" Fred asked, by now completely confused. "I was kissing you because I like you."

With a small growl from the back of her throat, Carly sat up before completely standing, dusting off her clothes. "That's the problem. You don't _like like_ me. I'm just one of your friends. That's how it's always been and I was stupid for thinking that for a split second you really did return my feelings." With that, she turned, trying to hold back everything as the emotions sprung up, threatening to beat her. She wouldn't be able to show her face again if she ended up crying in front of Fred. If she could keep her straight face there was hope for their friendship.

But then the red head had to get up, as well, and try to keep step with her, wrapping his arms around her to either slow her down or keep out the slightly chilly night hair that had been previously kept at bay by the warm feeling she had sustained in Fred's presence. However, when she tried to push Fred away this time, he clung tighter. "Jeez, Carly, would you at least let me explain? I really do-" This time he trailed off, for Carly turned, her face riddled with emotions he had never seen her have. She looked so terribly alone.

"Fine, explain then," Carly demanded, staring right into Fred's eyes.

With a step forward, Fred had her wrapped in his strong, protective arms, vowing to let no harm come to his girl, ever ever again. And she was his girl, no doubt about it; whether she knew and agreed or not. "Carly, I love you," he whispered in her ear. No, he hadn't meant to say it out loud, but the words seemed to calm her down much more than anything else could have.

"You're so stupid, Fred," she muttered against his chest, letting her body melt against his.

"So I take it you feel the same?" he asked, leaving a soft kiss against her forehead, knowing her answer but wanting to hear for himself.

Carly stood there, stealing his warmth for a moment, before replying, "I suppose I must."

"You suppose?" Fred asked, frowning down at her, lifting her head so that he could stare directly into her eyes.

Carly maneuvered her way out of Fred's arms, pushing him so that he got off balanced and fell with a loud _splash! _right into the lake. She stood there, pointing and laughing at him while he glared behind locks of matted red hair. With a squeal, Carly took off running while Fred the evil monster chased after her, catching up with her faster than she had hoped. Several squeals and protesting cries later, Carly found herself in the cold water of the lake, Fred's arms still circled protectively around her waist.

Shivering and teeth chattering violetly, she tried to swim away, but soon realized that she wasn't going anywhere without Fred. Glaring up at him, she was about to start protesting again, but his lips halted hers, pinning them in a mind-blowing kiss.

Just as Carly was going to try her luck at sliding her tongue between Fred's lips, there was a very odd sound from the shore. Specifically, odd sounds imitating very poor kissing made by none other than George Weasley and Lee Jordan. Turning his head to send a Gorgon-like glare at his brother, Fred asked as calmly as possible, "What are you guys doing here?"

"Wanted to make sure you two weren't drowning one another," Lee explained, innocently, batting his eyes so as to take suspicion of their intentions away from himself.

"Well while you're at it, why don't you join us?" Carly asked, moving towards the shore very slowly as she did. Before the boys even knew what was going on, she had flung a handfull of water at them, saying, "See? The water's great!"

Giggling madly, Carly watched as the two exchanged looks, then started stripping off their shoes. Accompanied by a loud cry and huge waves, Lee and George made it into the cold lake water. In all of the following confusion, Carly again found herself locked in Fred's hold. "You know this officially makes you mine, right?" he whispered in her ear.

"Actually, Fred dear, this makes you mine," she replied before turning back to the other two idiots.

The group started splashing around before suddenly realizing how cold the water really was. Getting out of the lake quickly, they tried to make it back to Gryffindor Tower without being caught… They didn't make it.

Detention with Snape: _One night of freedom_

Getting robes cleaned of all the lake water: _Several boxes of the newest line of jokes_

Finding out Fred Weasley is in love with you: _Priceless_


End file.
